Liz Brooke Ward - Stitched Textiles
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More Journal quilt figures.

8/6/2014

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I've had a break from landscapes and have now completed four more journal quilt pieces. They are based on figurative sketches and I am trying out different techniques for textured backgrounds and line.
These are little eight inch squares with a thin wadding between the layers. Eventually there will be twelve of them which together will make a whole design. In this piece the background is machine stitched then small squares of cheese cloth and scrim are attached using  french knots.

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Here the background is stitched with a free machine swing stitch and then embellished with knots and a hand seed stitch in a darker coloured thread.This gives a bit more contrast.
The legs are machined with straight lines and a couched thicker thread and they do line up with the piece which will finally sit above it.
The figure is appliquéd calico and machine stitched.

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The background fabric is linen. It is machine stitched with a twin needle and then with a programmed blanket stitch. The line of the central figure is cable stitched by putting a thick perle thread in the bobbin and stitched from the back. The top thread keeps it in place.  I wanted more definition in the central area and also needed to lighten it for more contrast so it was filled with bullion knots in a light thickish thread.

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This drawing was quite sketchy and complicated so it was digitally printed on to calico. The stitching is all by hand - running stitches and knots again - must be my favourite stitch!

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Cloths of Heaven

6/22/2014

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Occasionally I have one of those early mornings and on this morning I woke about 3 am. The good news was that I was in time to see the most spectacular dawn sky across the valley. Armed with a cup of tea and my camera I took this photograph. I had been trying to make a decision about the subject matter for the Cloths of Heaven Exhibition at the Weaver's Gallery, Church Lane, Ledbury. This view clinched it. This year the theme is W.B. Yeats poem. My favourite line is "--- of night and light and the half -light" so this is what my piece is called- The half-light.

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This is the landscape piece I made in response. It is appliquéd, machine stitched and embellished with wool fibres. The words "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams" are also stitched in the background. I have had a frame made for it and mounted the piece on a lovely soft, slightly faded, old cotton velvet. It is a gorgeous colour.
The exhibition runs in conjunction with the Lebury Poetry Festival from 1st to 13th July.

The Inspired by Slad Valley opening in Slad Chuch was very jolly and very "Stroud!" There are beautiful flowers in the church, a great exhibition, bunting, speeches, straw hats, sunshine and cider.
There were over 300 visitors to the exhibition this weekend and Open Gardens as well.

http://www.sladsociety.org.uk/festival.html
Next week I will be at Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucester as artist in residence. The current exhibition showing is
Extinct Boids Paintings by Ralph Steadman June 10th - July 20th
http://www.nature-in-art.org.uk/exhibitions.html

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Inspired by Slad Valley

6/18/2014

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I've just delivered three pieces of work to the church in Slad where this exhibition is being held. It is commemorating the centenary of Laurie Lee's birth It opens on Saturday 21st and runs until 29th June. I will be stewarding there on Sunday 22nd in the afternoon. There are a variety of media represented and I'm sure it will be fascinating. A percentage of sales will go towards the Church.
Next week I shall be artist in residence again at Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucester. Tuesday 22nd until Sunday 29th June. I am intending to do some fabric dyeing ready for some more lichen hangings for the exhibition in October at Westonbirt Arboretum with Cotswold Edge. I am really looking forward to it. It is such a lovely place and great fun meeting lots of different people - a bit like the textile trail.

I also have an online interview with so-glos. There is a link below.

http://www.soglos.com/culture/36916/In-the-studio-with-Liz-Brooke-Ward

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Bull's Cross -mixed media and stitch. £200
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Bull's Cross - detail. This is a mixed media piece using cotton muslin and scrim and paper which is machine stitched. The sky is hand stitched.

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Swift's Hill, Spring. £200
This is another appliquéd, hand and machine stitched piece in cotton and silk. The sky is hand stitched.
I enjoyed stitching the barbed wire fence in the foreground.



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Swift's Hill, Winter. £200
The same view as the one on the left but a bit closer up. Someone told me that quaking grass grew  there so I stitched some grass in the foreground. It is such a pretty delicate plant. The ploughed area below the hill looked quite red against the dark sky and reminded me of the pictures of Stroud red cloth pinned on the hillsides to dry on tenter hooks.

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Hellebore progress

4/20/2014

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I'm staying at a lovely farm called Bodrugan Barton near Mevagissey with a group of friends. We are all working on our own projects and I have brought down my hellebore wallhanging. I've stitched each individual flower element now and am turning the edges ready to appliqué it on to the velvet background.


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I finished making the individual flowers, but there seemed to be too much contrast on the bottom right flower so I spent the day making another one. Last night it looked much better but this morning there seemed to be not much difference. I guess it was the natural light. I'm looking forward to attaching the pieces to the background now.

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Twilight

11/5/2013

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The sun prints I painted in the summer are now stitched and mounted. Some are hand stitched and others are machined as well. On this one I machine stitched a line drawing of the skeleton tree that I can see across the valley from my shed. It has actually got a few more leaves now - must have been all that rain earlier on in the year. I shall be showing them at an Exhibition at Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth at the end of this month - Twilight - I will post a flyer with details later.
I also further stitched my "Fifty shades of brown "moth piece. The background was quite dominant and by adding lines of running stitch in the background I think it looks better. I decided to continue the design into the border. I have now mounted the piece on a light coloured linen.

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This piece, Lilac Moths, has been entirely hand stitched. The ferns show up well against the background and I've stitched a light running stitch in between the leaves.
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This shows more detail of the hand stitching  and the print of a moth.

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Ancestry

9/1/2013

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This is my August Journal Quilt on the theme "In other words". I came across a bag of name labels I had removed from my mother's clothes before taking them  to Age UK and I've been thinking about names and family and time and remembrance. When my mother died, one of her carers gave me a family tree which she had researched. This was my maternal grandfather's family. It looks as if they were very poor. I know my mother knew little or nothing about them and I discovered  that my great great grandmother Mary Ann Bentley died in King's Norton workhouse in 1894, so I am remembering her and her relations in this little piece. It was also an exercise in playing with pre - programmed alphabets from various machines and the little piece of cotton crochet cloth used as a base belonged to my grandmother, Maud Keen.

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Fifty shades of brown

8/19/2013

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PictureFlowers and foliage used in eco - dyeing bundle.

PictureUn dyed wool fabric with foliage wrapped tightly and bound with string.

PictureFoliage wrapped inside a wool bundle and sandwiched between tin lids.

PictureThe bundle is unwrapped.

PictureFurther unwrapping revealing the patterns.

I recently undertook an interesting workshop at Ruskin Mill Nailsworth with the eco - dyer India Flint. We collected found flowers and foliage, wrapped them in between layers of wool or silk and simmered in a natural dye bath of leaves ,bark foliage and tea bags.  The resulting cloth was stitched together to make a record of our collecting - a Wayfarer's cloth. The resulting shades of brown, purple, soft maroons and interesting patterns reminded me of the subtle colours of moth wings.
I stitched my cloth with a flurry of moths.
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We added a tiny paper and fabric book.

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Moth stitching detail

PictureMoth detail.

PictureCompleted Wayfaring cloth, Fifty Shades of Brown.

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A Good Book

6/18/2013

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Here is the completed piece "A Good Book". The text is cut out and appliqued onto a stitched background. I used stencils and reverse applique to construct the "illuminated" letters using silk and metallic thread to enhance it.
Mr Bedford's signature is printed in the bottom left hand corner.
This piece will be exhibited in the Weaver's Gallery, "The Beauty of Books", Ledbury, during the poetry festival from July 2nd to July 14th.
And --- I've updated my website at last!

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A rose .....

3/11/2013

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This is the second Journal Quilt of 2013, for February, continuing the theme "In other words". It is a quotation from Romeo and Juliet. "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." The rose is a digital print which I enhanced with inktense pencils and then machine stitched.


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This is the March Journal Quilt, called " Sand Stories".
Last March,when I was in Mevagissey, I photographed lug worm casts on the beach and it occurred to me that they looked like a kind of alphabet again. I'm not sure what the story is yet - as long as it isn't a load of ----!

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This is my take on the second "whisper", called "Foxglove". I took a photo of a stone wall and a foxglove, used filters and also changed the colour palette then printed on to recycled cotton sheet again. The background is machine stitched and the fern shapes are appliquéd on top. Areas of the wall have been embroidered with  French knots in a chunky thread.
I am enjoying this idea of just looking for a brief time at an image and then taking an idea from it for a new piece of work. The original piece was quite abstract but the colour palette was similar. I spotted a wall and a fern growing at it's base. My first print turned out rather light. This was the second attempt. I shall probably resurrect the other print by adding some inktense colour to it.


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Lichen Texture VI

2/20/2013

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This is the sixth of my tiny lichen embroideries. I start off by highlighting the shapes with a small backstitch. The areas are then filled with knots of different weight threads. Beads and jump rings are added for texture. I estimated that there are over 10,000 stitches in this piece. They take a long time to make but are rather therapeutic to sew. You get in the zone, especially with a (small) glass of red wine to hand.

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I do like this soft colour palette of pinks, lilacs and greys. They are all colours I have seen on the lichens I have looked at.

Virginia Creeper

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This is the base for my Virginia Creeper panel. It is layered with scrim, hessian, wool tops and home spun wool then embellished to create a textured background inspired by a stone wall. This is a response to a picture I was shown, not my choice, as part of a "chinese whisper". The idea is that the members of the group respond to an image which is revealed for three minutes only. The resulting piece is then shown to another person who makes their response which is shown to another person and so on. We are interested in seeing what transpires as the original idea becomes more abstract.

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On this panel, linen was applied on the surface then cut back to reveal the textured background beneath. The leaves were made from a felted (by mistake) wool cardigan and embellished on the surface.
The linen cut outs were applied to another panel to make the third stone surface.
All three pieces have been freely machine stitched.

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I've decided to display them horizontally.

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The three pieces were finished with a cord edge and mounted on a natural linen canvas.

In other words: ear worm, January Journal Quilt

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 The first of the Journal Quilt challenges for 2013, this time the format is horizontal, 8" x 12". We could choose our own theme. I thought I would continue my exploration of text, letter forms and writing so have called my theme "In other words". I thought this would give me plenty of scope throughout the year. The problem was, once I'd decided on the title I developed an "ear worm". That annoying tune that won't leave you. Mine was "Fly me to the moon" - in other words --- hold my hand etc etc. I couldn't do anything so decided to knock it on the head by machine stitching the whole song freely on to white cotton. Then I quickly brushed grey acrylic paint over the surface to make a textured background and appliquéd notes and a bass clef as it looked like an ear. The words were appliquéd on the surface and I added a little heart button that I found on the floor as the song was about love and it was Valentine's day. I've backed it on pelmet vilene and may make a book with them at the end of the year. One down,eleven to go!

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